Automation For Your Team to Feel More Human

Episode #416 with Dr. Ryan Hungate

What do your patients and team members have in common? Most likely, they are spoiled by tech and automation. Whether through Amazon, banking, or DoorDash, people automate things they don't want to do. So, why hasn't dentistry done the same? Today, Kirk Behrendt invites Dr. Ryan Hungate, former Apple employee and founder of Simplifeye, to explain why you need automation for your front desk team and how it can make their work more human. To learn more about Simplifeye and the ways it will benefit your practice, listen to Episode 416 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Today, technology can do things better.

Technology and humans are complementary.

Automation doesn't mean removing jobs.

Automate tasks that your team members dislike.

Most patients want automation.

Quotes:

“We have to acknowledge that our front desk team doesn't wake up, stretch in the morning, and go, ‘Man, I can't wait to go schedule 30 patients! Man, I can't wait to go reconcile 80 transactions in electronic health records!’ That’s not what they're excited about. And I'm guessing, interestingly enough, doctors aren't excited about actually drilling the tooth. We love talking with patients. Your front desk team loves talking with patients.” (14:01—14:30)

“It’s the in-between stuff that's boring. Right? We don't want to do that stuff anyway, so what if we could take those in-between things, the scheduling of patients, the reconciling of payments, the verification of benefits, whatever it might be, and automate it? A lot of people will look at that and go, ‘Well, with automation, aren't you removing jobs?’ No — no. Hell no. We’re allowing people to be more human. We’re turning them bionic. That's the best part. We’re going to allow you to do the stuff that you want to do and love and take away the stuff that you didn't want to do anyway.” (14:51—15:22)

“We also have to realize that our front desk team is pretty overworked right now. We kind of pile on them. And what does that mean? Well, meaning that if you take phones, for example, this is for a majority of doctors out there, 12% of dentists have direct scheduling. That's it — just 12%. So, if you want an easy leg up on your competition, go all-out direct scheduling. But on top of that, because phone calls are so interruptive, your front desk also misses 30% of the phone calls. That's the best front desks, by the way.” (15:39—16:17)

“Think about the way that you want to schedule an appointment with your doctor. Like, when you go see a dermatologist, are you excited to call them up and find an appointment? . . . Now, imagine that doctor, tomorrow, said, ‘You know what? I'm going to get rid of all this. And now, the only way that you can communicate with me again is via phone.’ What would you think? You would think, ‘This is upsetting.’ But you might even think something worse: ‘I'm going to find another doctor.’ Because now, you've had a taste of [automation]. And even better yet, even if a patient hasn't had a taste of how good that can be, they have somewhere else — with Uber, with Amazon, with any online retail store or experience in their life. Postmates, who’s going to bring you food at the tip of your fingers, wherever you want to, DoorDash, whatever it might be, all these things are happening.” (16:32—17:32)

“Traditionally, people have been averse to some of this technology. Why? Because, okay, I'm going to open up my schedule to have somebody else, some technology, schedule appointments for me. That's nerve-wracking because, guess what? They used to not be able to do it as well as Bobbi at the front desk. Bobbi’s better. Well, I'm happy to say that there's now technology that can do it. In fact, maybe better than Bobbi.”...